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- Standards stifle effectiveness
- Republicans not willing to fund HSR
**Inherency Extensions**AT ARRA SolvesNot enough fundingRogers, JD, 11—JD from U of Illinois College of Law, BA in Economics from U of Utah (Joshua, Spring 2011, “THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY: HOW STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION MAY HAVE DERAILED AN AMERICAN HIGH SPEED RAIL SYSTEM”, U. Ill. J.L. Tech. & Pol'y 215, p. lexis, AL) President Obama has noted that the $ 8 billion ARRA grant is intended as a down payment on high speed rail. n100 This initial investment is to be followed [*227] by $ 1 billion annually to continue funding of planning and projects. n101 Standing alone, these figures are vast; however, when compared with the $ 1.8 trillion the federal government has spent on air and highway travel since 1960, the figures are minimal. n102 In fact, when projected over an equal period of time, they are nearly identical to the 3% of federal funding for intercity passenger travel that passenger rail has traditionally received. n103 This minimal funding demonstrates a traditional dilemma faced by passenger rail: it does not receive the funding required to make it successful. If a high speed rail system is meant to compete with air and automobile travel, it will cost significantly more than the amounts allocated by ARRA and the President's proposed continued investment. Not surprisingly, estimates of the cost of high speed rail infrastructure construction vary widely. n104 Standards stifle effectivenessStandards prevent rail effectivenessRogers, JD, 11—JD from U of Illinois College of Law, BA in Economics from U of Utah (Joshua, Spring 2011, “THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY: HOW STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION MAY HAVE DERAILED AN AMERICAN HIGH SPEED RAIL SYSTEM”, U. Ill. J.L. Tech. & Pol'y 215, p. lexis, AL) With this new code section, the law creates a section specific definition of high speed rail as "intercity passenger rail service that is reasonably expected to reach speeds of at least 110 miles per hour." n124 Thus, ARRA, by committing its high speed rail funding to P.L. 110-432, adopts the 110 mph attainment (but not average) standard, which is woefully short of the needed 150 mph average standard. ARRA does at least succeed, regarding the geographic requirements, because § 502 of PRIIA modifies § 501 to the extent that for an application to be approved it must fall within one of the designated high speed corridors. n125 Therefore, by establishing the system requirements at 110 mph, ARRA fails to capture the purpose and vision of U.S. high speed rail. Republicans not willing to fund HSRRecent Congressional action indicate that Republicans not willing to fund HSR projectsHurst 2011(Nathan, CQ Staff. "Obama Initiatives on Infrastructure, HighSpeed Rail Are Zeroed Out." CQ Weekly (November 21, 2011): 2448. http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/weeklyreport112000003986513.) House and Senate conferees provided no funding for two of President Obama’s signature initiatives: highspeed rail and a national infrastructure bank. Obama has requested $53 billion over six years for highspeed rail. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to set aside $100 million in fiscal 2012. Overall, the threebill minibus (HR 2112) that the Senate cleared Nov. 17 would provide $109.4 billion for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Just $55.6 billion of that is discretionary appropriations; most of the funding in the bill comes from obligations for the Highway Trust Fund. (Minibus, p. 2445) The discretionary funding is virtually the same as in fiscal 2011, but it is $19.4 billion less than Obama sought. Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, DIll., said he was “disappointed that the final bill did not include funding specifically for highspeed rail,” but he expressed optimism that projects such as the one in his state aiming to provide faster rail links between Chicago and St. Louis would continue under a different grant program. With the Republican House targeting the president’s highspeed rail initiative, the executive branch is independently doing what it can to bolster projects already in place. Meanwhile, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John L. Mica, RFla., has signaled his intent to redirect unspent highspeed rail funds to Amtrak’s heavily traveled Northeast Corridor. House and Senate aides said the conference committee’s actions are not expected to affect projects with phases already under way, such as the St. LouisChicago project. While its Phase I — upgrading track to facilitate speeds of up to 110 miles per hour — is already paid for, funding for later phases is not determined. The measure also does not fund a $5 billion administration request for a National Infrastructure Bank. Senate Democrats were able to retain $500 million for national infrastructure investments commonly referred to as the TIGER program. Durbin praised the retention of the program as a way to save highspeed rail projects, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program is already grossly oversubscribed. House Republicans offered nothing for the TIGER program in their proposal approved by the TransportationHUD Subcommittee in September. The National Passenger Railroad Corp., known as Amtrak, would get $1.4 billion of the $1.6 billion total slated to be spent on rail in fiscal 2012 under the deal. Along with Amtrak’s funding are some policy riders aimed at streamlining the railroad’s cost structure, including overtime caps for employees and a ban on federal subsidies for routes on which Amtrak offers passengers discounts of at least half off the regular fares. Federal highway projects for the year would be funded at the $39.1 billion authorized in the latest surface transportation extension (PL 11230), about $2 billion less than in fiscal 2011. That spending is exclusive of another $1.6 billion slated for emergency road repairs, targeted to areas affected by Hurricane Irene and flooding on the Missouri River. A waiver of a $100 million perstate cap for a single event was part of the final agreement. The Federal Aviation Administration would get $15.9 billion, a slight million bump. That includes $878 million targeted toward the nationwide NextGen upgrade of air traffic control systems, which included some compromises on funding for research and development related to the multiyear projects. Senate Democrats largely won out on one of the most contentious FAArun funding mechanisms: the Essential Air Service program that subsidizes service to otherwise unprofitable rural airports. The program would be funded at the $143 million level that Democrats preferred. House Republicans wanted to trim the program to $100 million with a slew of cutbacks. Instead, the program would bar new airports, allowing participation only by facilities already served under the program or that had qualified for support as of Oct. 1. HUD took a hit in the conference, ending up with $37.4 billion, $4.6 billion less than the White House requested and a $3.7 billion decline from current spending. The legislation would fund Section 8 lowincometenant housing vouchers at $17.2 billion, which the conference committee called sufficient to provide “funding to renew every individual and family that received assistance last year.” The bill also would provide $3.3 billion for the popular Community Development block grant program, $193 million less than in fiscal 2011 and $473 million less than the White House requested. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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